OUR OPINION: Time to power down Pilgrim

Saturday

Feb 8, 2014 at 2:00 AMFeb 8, 2014 at 9:27 AM

The time has come for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth to power down.

We don't say this lightly. As one of the largest employers in the region, it's a vital part of the local economy. In these challenging economic times, even more so. Local municipalities as far away as Marshfield reap both federal grants because of its presence, as well as annual emergency planning funds from Pilgrim's parent company, Entergy. We realize how much the region depends on it for its energy needs – it generates about 14 percent of Massachusetts' electricity. It it will be a challenge to replace.

But replace it we must.

In 2013 alone, Pilgrim was off- line for 80 days, 46 of those days from scheduled refueling and maintenance. Twice last year, the plant had unplanned shutdowns, most recently on Oct. 14 when the plant lost power from a 345-kilovolt NStar line that provides electricity to the plant. It was down for a week.

Last August, a Pentagon report highlighting the vulnerability of U.S. nuclear power plants to terrorist attacks stated Pilgrim was one of eight plants most at risk for a terrorist strike from the water. This is no hysterical posturing in light of what some officials described as a terrorist attack on a California electrical substation in April 2013.

In December, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley wrote the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency which licenses nuclear power plants, asking it to address the issue of spent fuel rods. Pilgrim has more than 500 metric tons of spent fuel in pools, or 3,222 fuel assemblies. The plant is licensed for only 3,859 fuel assemblies.

As Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and the director of nuclear safety at the Cambridge-based Union of Concerned Scientists, pointed out at the time, the reason this is a critical issue is the "what if": What if after a plant is closed, radioactive water leaks from the pools? Our what ifs are: What if it leaks into Cape Cod Bay? The Atlantic? Our drinking water?

Just last month, Entergy alerted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency which oversees all nuclear power plants, that radioactive tritium was discovered in a newly installed groundwater monitoring well at the plant. While Entergy reported that the initial reading was found to be at an elevated level, subsequent tests found it had dropped. It still isn't certain of the source.

And earlier this week, it was confirmed that the NRC would downgrade Pilgrim by month's end – its second downgrade in three months.

This came after NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane toured the plant in November. At that time, Macfarlane said the NRC has closed down other nuclear plants for poor performance and likened Pilgrim to the Fort Calhoun nuclear station in Nebraska – shut down by the federal agency two years ago. The oldest nuclear power station in the U.S. is Oyster Creek in New Jersey. It opened in 1969, just three years before Pilgrim, and is scheduled to power down in 2019 after its share of problems.

Now it's time for Entergy, the NRC and the region to accept that Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is in its sunset years and make plans for its eventual powering off. It will take time and planning to ensure it's done safely, with a conscientious nod toward the state's energy needs and its impact on the local economies. Yet it must be done.

The cumulative effect of all of these issues – some troubling, some outright alarming – cannot be ignored. Entergy should close Pilgrim in a safe, orderly manner before that option is removed and an inevitable event forces its shutdown permanently.